Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

ELLIS There are few families bearing names of the class to which that of Ellis belongs that can be traced up to the Conquest. A host of families bearing local names, and names derived from occupations, cannot be traced nearly so high, while not half the titled families of the kingdom can carry their pedigree back to the Crusades. Most of the Ellises of England are descended from a Norman ancestor, who came over with William the Conqueror, and he, in common with most of the Ellises, or synonymous families of France, were descended from the early kings of that country, and as such bore the royal fleurs-de-lis, the name being originally being Elias of Louis. The earliest document win which the name is found in the Domesday Book, which was finished in 1086. There it is spelled Alis and Helias. William Alis was a person of no slight importance, and is mentioned in a list of renowned Norman Lords. He was not at the battle of Hastings, but came over soon after. He followed William, Duke of Normandy, into England, and was a member of a family of upper Normandy, which had its seat at the parish of Alis or Alisay, near Pont de L'Arche. His grandson, William Alis, with others, paid a fine for countenancing the marriage of Robert de Sackville, A.D. 1184, to which King Henry II was opposed. Alisay is a long, straggling and prettily situated village, containing several good houses, within a mile of Pont de L'Arche station, on the Rouen and Paris railroad, and being close to and parallel with it is visibile by all travelers, and its substantially built tower is a conspicuous object. William, Seneschal of France, Lord of the Fiefs of Gommeth, of Ferle-Alias, and also of Alisay near Rouen, was living in 1643 and 1667. William was undoubtedly of the family of D'Alluys, also called D'alaie, a small town of the Loire. This fief was held by Hugh D'Alluye in 978, and remained in his family till the thirteenth century. William Alis' grandfather was Walter Alis. Investigation proves from the Conquest downward that the name of Ellis, like most names, was spelled in many ways, some of them as follows: Alis, Halis, Hallis, Elias, Helias, Eles, Elles, Ellis, Ellys, Elys, Elice, Ellice, Hellys, Helles, Hollis, Holys, Holles, Illes, Eyles, Eales. William Alis died in A. D. 1130. Sir Archibald Ellis, a crusader under Richard I, is said to have been the first to bear the Crusading coat-of-arms used by the family which had for its crest: A woman naked, her hair disheveled proper, in celebration of his having captured a Saracen maiden, and like another Scipio left her honor inviolate. The extensive and cherished use of some form of the original crest of Sir Archibald Ellis is noticeable in nearly all the subsequent families of Ellis. There is a meager outline of the genealogy of the Ellis family in "Davis' Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth." (I) John Ellis, immigrant ancestor, was born in England and came to Sandwich, Plymouth colony, at an early date. He was on the list of men reported able to bear arms in 1643, and was a lieutenant in the military company of his town. He died in the spring of 1677 and the inventory filed soon afterward was dated May 23, 1677, presented by his widow Elizabeth. Children: 1. Bennett, born Feb. 27, 1648. 2. Mordecai, born March 24, 1650. 3. Joel, born March 20, 1654. 4. Matthias, born June 2, 1657. 5. John. 6. Samuel, mentioned below. 7. Freeman. [trans note: where is my Deborah Ellis, b. 1644 in Sandwich? Huh? I wonder if only the male children were listed.] The descendants of John Ellis lived in Sandwich and vicinity for many generations. Some of the family lived at Hanover. The family at Industry, Maine, is descended from a member of this family from Harwich, Mass. Roger Ellis, of Yarmouth, may have been a brother of John Ellis; married Nov. 12, 1644, Jane Lisham; removed to Boston where he was admitted an inhabitant in 1653 and bought a house in Charlestown Dec. 25, 1657; nuncupative will bequeathed all to his wife Alice, March 24, 1668-69. John Ellis was called Jr., but there was no other Ellis of that name in the colony. His father may have been John. (II) Samuel (1), son of John Ellis, settled in Plymouth. Among his children was Joel, mentioned below. (III) Joel, son of Samuel Ellis, was born in Plymouth. He married in 1710, Elizabeth Churchill. Children: 1. Joel, born 1712. 2. John, born 1714, died young. 3. Matthias. 4. Samuel, mentioned below. 5. John, married Eiza Coomer. 6. Elizabeth, married Gideon Southworth. 7. Rebecca, married Samuel Lanman. 8. Charles, married Bathsheba Fuller. 9. Thomas, married Ruth Thomas. (IV) Samuel (2), son of Joel Ellis, married (first) in 1741, Mary, daughter of Allerton Cushman, of Plympton. He married (second) in 1744, Mercy Minick, of Taunton. He married (third) in 1761, Lydia, daughter of Zebedee Chandler. He married (fourth) Catherine, daughter of Othniel Campbell. Child of 1st wife: Allerton. Child of 2d wife: Stephen, born 1748, mentioned below. Child of 3d wife: Lydia. Children of 4th wife: Millard, born 1767. Molly, born 1769. (V) Stephen (1), son of Samuel (2) Ellis, was born in 1748. He lived in Plympton and married Susannah, daughter of Ebenezer Thompson. He was a soldier in the revolution in Capt. John Bradford's company, Col. Theophilus Cotton's regiement, and marched to Marshfield on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775. He was sergeant in Capt. James Harlow's company, commanded by First Lieut. Elijah Bisbee, Jr., in Col. Thomas Lothrop's regiment under Bridadier-General Joseph Cushing, and marched to Bristol, Rhode Island in 1777. He was also in Capt. Thomas Samson's company, Col. Cotton's regiment, in General Palmer's brigade, Sept. 25 to Oct. 30, 1777, on a secret expedition to Newport. Children: 1. Mercy, born 1773. 2. Susanna, born 1774. 3. Stephen, born 1776, mentioned below. 4. Molly, born 1778. 5. Ebenezer, born 1785. 6. Maverick, born 1787. 7. Josiah Thompson, born 1789. 8. Lydia, born 1793. (VI) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1) Ellis, was born Oct. 12, 1776, at Plymouth or Plympton Farms, and died at Sumner, maine, where all his children were born. He married Elizabeth, born Nov. 3, 1780, daughter of Sylvanus and Elizabeth (Fuller) Stephens. Children: 1. Sabina, born March 5, 1799. 2. Susanna, born Sept. 8, 1801. 3. Stephen, born July 12, 1803. 4. Ira, born Dec. 16, 1805, died at the age of four. 5. Infant, died young. 6. Ira, born May 4, 1809. 7. Sylvanus, born July 3, 1811, mentioned below. 8. Hiram, born June 29, 1813. 9. Eleazer, born July 19, 1815. 10. Samuel, born May 3, 1818. 11. John Quincy, born Nov. 13, 1824. 12. Elizabeth, born April 8, 1829. (VII) Sylvanus, son of Stephen (2) Ellis, was born in Sumner, Maine, July 3, 1811, died at Guilford, Maine, April 2, 1870. He was educated in the public schools, and worked at the trade of ship-building at Portland, Maine. He settled in Guilford, Maine, and served as selectman, and in 1865 was representative to the Maine legislature. He was a Whig and later a Republican. He married Rebecca Sampson, born in Hartford, Maine, May 5, 1810, died June 15, 1868. Children: 1. Nathan S., born in Portland, Maine, Nov. 19, 1832, died in California Feb. 19, 1861. 2. Mary E., born in Portland Feb. 17, 1834, died in Guilford July 28, 1854. 3. Charles L., born in Sumner, Maine, Oct. 3, 1836, is an official in the State's Prison in California; served in the army in the First Cavalry for three years. 4. Sylvanus Scott, born in Sumner, Maine, April 2, 1839, served in the civil war for three years as orderly sergeant in the First Maine Cavalry, and was for a time in Libby Prison; died in Minneapolis, July, 1899. 5. Hiram S., born in Guilford, Maine, June 19, 1841, served in the civil war, in Company A, First Maine Cavalry; was taken prisoner and was taken prisoner and confined first in Libby Prison, then for two hundred days in Andersonville; now living in California. 6. Mellen F., born May 16, 1843, mentioned below. 7. Columus W., born at Guilford, Jan. 31, 1847, mentioned below. 8. George H., born in Guilford, Jan. 28, 1849, died June 13, 1853. 9. Emma R., born in Guilford, July 19, 1852, died in Cambridge, Mass. June 3, 1877. (VIII) Mellen Frederick, son of Sylvanus Ellis, was born in Guilford, May 16, 1843. He attended the public schools of his native town, Monson Academy and French's Commercial College, Boston. He began his business career as a bookkeeper for a Boston concern. He was for many years in the street paving and street railway construction business with headquarters in Boston. He was connected with the South Boston Ice Company for seven years. Since 1900, when the Guilford Manufacturing Company was organized, he has been treasurer of that concern, and has made his home in Guilford. The products of the company are long and short lumber, house finish of all kinds, sash, blinds, doors, box shooks, which latter is their specialty. A sawmill is operated, a logging outfit, and a large number of men given employment both at the mills and in the woods. For twenty-nine years previous to 1900 Mr. Ellis lived in Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Ellis enlisted in the civil war, Sept., 1862, in Company I, Twenty-second Maine Regiment for nine months, but his service extended to a year, lacking but nine days. He was mustered out at Bangor, Maine, in Sept., 1863. He was with his regiment first at Arlington Heights, near Washington, and later at the siege of Port Hudson and Vicksburg and the famous campaign in Mississippi in 1863. He is a member of John A. Logan Post, No. 188, Grand Army of the Republi, of Cambridge, Mass. He is a member of the Universalist church. In politics he is a Republican. He was made a Mason March 18, 1871, in Mount Kineo Lodge, Abbott, Maine. He is counted among the substantial men of affairs in this community. His excellent judgment in business, his executive ability, his knowledge of men and affairs, have made him of exceptional value to the various concerns with which he has been associated. Of attractive personality and sterling character, he enjoys the friendship of many prominent men and the respect and confidence of all his townsmen. He married, Feb. 28, 1871, Sarah B., born Jan. 26, 1842, daughter of Ezekiel and Eunice (Washburne) Glass, of Guilford, granddaughter of Consider Glass, of New Gloucester, Maine, a soldier in the revolution. Child: Vinal Henry, born in Cambridge, Nov. 29, 1871, mentioned below. (IX) Vinal H., son of Mellen F. and Sarah B. (Glass) Ellis, was born in Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 29, 1871. He was educated in the public and high schools of Cambridge and in Burdette's Business College, Boston. He is now associated with his father in the management of the Guilford Manufacturing Company. He is a member of Mt. Kineo Lodge of Free Masons of Guilford, and of Syracuse Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Guilford. In politics he is a Republican; in religion a Universalist. He married (first) Nellie Gibbs, born at Glenburn, Maine, who died in 1898. He married (second) Sept. 14, 1904, Stella, born at Blanchard April 9, 1882, daughter of John and Emma Goodrich. Child of 1st wife: Olive J., born in Methuen, Mass. Dec. 9, 1896, lives with her grandfather, Mellen F. Ellis. Children of 2d wife: Sarah Goodrich, born July 27, 1905. Robert Mellen, born June 26, 1907. (VIII) Columbus W., son of Sylvanus Ellis, was born in Guilford, Maine, Jan. 31, 1847. He received his edcuation in the public schools there and in Monson Academy. He worked in the street paving and street railway and repairing business in Boston and vicinity for five years. He returned to his native town and conducted his farm and sawmill there. He extended his mill business to other branches and did a flourishing business. He and his brother Mellen F. Ellis organized the Guilford Manufacturing Company in 1900 and he has been president and manager from that time. This is one of the leading industries of the town. Mr. Ellis is a director of the Guilford Trust Company. In politics he is a Republican. He has been a member of the Guilford school committee, and for several years a member and for three years chairman of the board of selectmen. He is a member of Mount Kineo Lodge of Free Masons, Guilford; of Good Cheer Lodge, Odd Fellows; and of the Universalist church. He married, Nov., 1869, Clara Elizabeth, daughter of Otis and Isabel Cobb, of Guilford. Children: 1. Merton Eugene, born Sept. 12, 1872, graduate of the University of Maine, class of 1895, now mechanical engineer with the U. S. Shoe Machinery Company, Beverly, Mass.; married Olive Swan, of Beverly, child: Clara. 2. Mildred, born Aug. 18, 1879, attended the public schools, received a musical education in Bangor and Boston; married Taylor K. Eades, dry goods merchant, of Dexter, Maine; child: Rebecca H. Eades. 3. Emma R., born July 23, 1881, graduate of the Guilford high school, 1901, and of Wellesley College, class of 1904; instructor at Wellesley College for three years; resigning to take a position on the faculty of the Hampton Institue at Hampton, Virginia, in 1907.